DAMMAM – The Saudi insurance sector might face huge losses when medical insurance of citizens will be enforced, a former insurance committee's chairman at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry has warned, Al-Sharq daily reported Tuesday. Khaldoon Barakat said the sector used to make huge profits 10 years ago when there were no regulations in place and or any form of government monitoring. But today, the situation has changed and the sector has been losing more and more profits. Barakat said some companies have made a lot of profits, however. This is due to the fact they followed special policies. The volume of the sector 10 years ago was SR2 billion and today it has risen to SR140 billion. “We shouldn't be tricked by these numbers because the larger the profits, the larger the losses. The real losses will start when the insurance for Saudi citizens gets enforced.” The prices of medical insurance policies have increased lately, but most individuals are not aware of such increase because they don't know anything about insurance prices. Some medical insurance policies might cost an individual SR1,000 a year. By the end of the year, he will get medical services triple this cost. He noted that some individuals love to go to the hospital for the simplest problem and such thing will bring a lot of losses to insurance companies in the future. Ten years ago, the number of the insured was small compared with today's number and that explains the huge profits at the time. — SG
